128 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



prevalent that there are two kinds of elk, the one being less 

 massive in build than the other, of lighter colour, and with 

 invariably less palmation ; but I take it that such variation is 

 simply due to local influences, and is common to many animals, 

 cornigerous and otherwise. 



Be all this as it may, we have at least the fact that the 



horns of all the elk in Scandinavia do run more or less to 



points, and that the majority killed have less than eighteen, 



which number, my experience leads me to believe, English 



sportsmen, whatever may be their opinions as to growth and \ 



age, practically regard much in the light of a 'royal head' 



amongst elk, while with any greater number it might be 



analogously classed as 'imperial,' although neither these nor 



any other terms that I know of are in use. A head with twelve 



or fourteen points is reckoned a decent trophy. I have never 



myself seen one preserved with more than twenty-six, and this 



was inferior in sweep and general measurements to some which 



had fewer ; on the best which has fallen to my own rifle I 



count twenty-three. It will be understood that in reckoning 



points I recognise the claim of every distinct and undeniable 



excrescence, of whatever size. By the kindness of Colonel 



C. S. Walker, of Tykillen, Wexford — a keen and successful 



hunter in India and elsewhere, and my predecessor in the elk 



forest which I now hold in Norway — I have been supplied with 



excellent and instructive photographs of some of the best heads ' 



he obtained during his four Scandinavian seasons, which 



have been admirably set up by Keilick, of 59 Edgware Road. 



They are superior to those in my own possession, and as good 



all round as any that I have myself seen ; but a few have, I 



beheve, been obtained of slightly larger dimensions by English 



sportsmen in Norway. No. i is that of a bull in his prime, 



with eleven points on each antler. No. 2, that of an old bull 



described as having light grey long curly hair on his brow and 



crest, which gave him a very venerable appearance ; thirteen 



points on one horn and eleven on the other. Nos. 3 and 4 are 



different views of the finest specimen, with twelve points on 



k 



